Between 4,000 and 5,000 data centers are actively humming in the U.S. right now, draining energy and, in the case of some of the hyperscale ones, consuming as much as 5 million gallons of water per day. Even this does not satisfy the demand cultivated by the tech industry, however: At least 3,000 more data centers are under construction or planned, prompting a diverse grassroots mobilization…
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This story originally appeared in Common Dreams on June 04, 2026. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license.
Voters in Monterey Park, California on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a permanent ban on data centers within city limits, becoming the first city in the US to prohibit the power-hungry facilities via a ballot initiative.
In total, the anti-data center resolution passed with 86% voter support, with only 14% of voters opposed. The resolution’s text said that a ban was necessary to “protect air quality, drinking water resources, and public health” and “prevent impacts to electricity and water rates.”
Steven Kung, a leader of the local initiative, told ABC 7 Eyewitness News that the result was “a landslide victory.”
Kung listed multiple reasons why residents in the city resoundingly rejected building data centers in their community.
“The noise pollution, the air pollution, the rise in the electricity rates,” he said, “the deal just didn’t make sense and it doesn’t make sense for most, if not all, cities data centers go to.”
In an interview with Politico, Monterey Park Mayor Elizabeth Yang predicted that her city would be far from the last to pass data center bans, noting data center projects have spurred protests across the country.
“A lot of the other cities that are facing data center proposals are going to follow suit,” said Yang. “There’s [a] bad reputation across the board, across the country, from other data centers that have been built in neighborhoods.”
Monterey Park city councilmember Jose Sanchez expressed a similar sentiment, telling The Guardian that he hoped his city would become a inspiration to others.
“We hope that other communities will use the model set by residents here in Monterey Park,” said Sanchez, “as inspiration to stop
On Monday, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer joined tech CEOs and businessmen at a groundbreaking ceremony for a $16 billion data center in rural Michigan. The data center — the first OpenAI data center in the Midwest — is already under construction, despite facing pushback from local residents. It is located in Saline Township, a rural agricultural community just 10 miles southwest of Ann Arbor…
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Amid ongoing outcry over a massive, 40,000-acre data center campus being planned in northern Utah, Utah Senate President Stuart Adams announced that he’s calling for the project to be scaled back dramatically. “I’ve sent a letter directly to Kevin O’Leary calling for a 75% reduction in the proposed data center project area, from 40,000 acres to approximately 10,000 acres,” Adams said in a…
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Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday announced he will soon introduce legislation that would give the American public “a direct ownership stake” in the largest artificial intelligence companies in the U.S. by establishing a sovereign wealth fund, which would ensure everyone benefits from the rapidly advancing technology. Sanders (I-Vt.) wrote in a New York Times op-ed that his American AI Sovereign…
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Throughout his second term, President Donald Trump has been on a relentless push to boost fossil fuels, undermine renewable energy, and end all federal regulation to address climate change. The administration claims that this push will help people in the U.S. save money. But in reality, the opposite is true: Fossil fuel dependence makes life more expensive. Thanks to the U.S.
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